TOWES develops new assessment for healthcare sector

TOWES is developing a new assessment tool for the healthcare sector that will help measure the essential skills required for successful employment in health-related occupations.

“Workers in the healthcare sector require high levels of essential skills in Reading Text, Document Use, and Numeracy, in addition to substantial academic knowledge,” explains TOWES Project Officer Jennifer Asquin.

Many workers could benefit from improving their essential skills, which would result in increased safety and productivity for health-care workers, benefiting all Canadians, particularly given the current staff shortages in this industry.

Scheduled for production in early 2009, the TOWES Healthcare Series assessment will take the same form as other TOWES tests but will feature documents related to health care.

In addition to the written portion, a new Oral Communication component will measure test takers’ speaking and listening skills.

“Oral communication is an important aspect for the majority of health-care occupations and many workers, especially new Canadians, need to improve these skills in order to become more efficient and effective on the job,” says Asquin.

 As these skills are difficult to measure, the Oral Communication component of the TOWES Healthcare Series will be a great tool for both educators and employers to evaluate the communication skills of learners and prospective or current employees.

The assessment of these skills should also lead to a greater awareness within the health-care industry of both oral communication requirements and training opportunities for health-care workers.

For more information, please contact the TOWES Department at towes@bowvalleycollege.ca or 403.410.3200.